Subject: What is this bee looking bug?
Location: New York, 10960
July 8, 2016 10:07 am
I know there are carpenter bees eating away at my deck. But the other day I saw this guy just lurking around. It doesn’t look like the others. The thorax is much longer than the C-bees. And the black circle, by where the wings attach to the body, surrounded by the gold fuzz is much much larger.
Image 1 is the bug in question
Image 2 is the carpenter bee
Thank you!
Signature: Deena

Subject: Tube Nesting Wasp?
Location: Western North Carolina
August 19, 2015 9:37 am
These rather large (1 inch plus) wasps (?) are busily nesting in the larger of my Mason and Leafcutter Bee nesting tubes, and they seal the end of the tube with a mud plug.
Signature: Alan

Sculptured Resin Bee

Dear Alan,
This is an introduced Giant Resin Bee or Sculptured Resin Bee, Megachile sculpturalis, and it belongs to the same family as your native Mason and Leafcutter Bees. According to BugGuide: “They are opportunistic and nest in existing wooden cavities, rather than excavating their own. Effectively pollinate kudzu, another invasive species.”

Subject: What kind of bees are these???
Location: Springfield Pa
July 5, 2015 10:34 am
Can someone please tell me what kind of bees these are? We noticed them last week and sprayed where they seem to be making a nest in the arm of our awning? We thought we got rid of them and now they are back.
When my 4 year old sees them she wont go outside:(
Thanks in advance for your help!!
Signature: Dina

Giant Resin Bee

Dear Dina,
This sure looks to us like an invasive, exotic Giant Resin Bee, Megachile sculpturalis, and you can verify our identification by comparing your image to those on BugGuide.According to BugGuide: “They are opportunistic and nest in existing wooden cavities, rather than excavating their own. Effectively pollinate kudzu, another invasive species.”

Subject: wood boring wasp?
Location: brisbane Australia
March 23, 2014 12:40 am
Hey bugman just wondering what this is. Has been boring into wood for years and we’ve never known what it is
Signature: wood boring wasp

Fire-Tailed Resin Bee

This is a Bee, not a Wasp, and we quickly identified it as a Fire-Tailed Resin Bee, Megachile (Callomegachile) mystaceana, (Chalicodoma mystaceana), thanks to the Brisbane Insect Website where it states: “This is a solitary bee and build nest by resin, gum or mud in enclosed spaces such as space between folds of fabric and old Mud-Dauber Wasp nest. They will nest in drilled wooden blocks too. … This Resin Bee female builds nest in existing cavity.” If that information is accurate, something else is boring the holes that these resourceful and opportunistic Fire-Tailed Resin Bees are using as nesting sites.

Subject: What’s this bee?
Location: North Sutton NH
July 10, 2013 8:14 am
Found this insect on milkweed with my honey bee’s. Appeared to be just resting. Has large mandible’s on the front. Never seen this one before.
Signature: NH Bee

Giant Resin Bee

Dear NH Bee,
This is a Giant Resin Bee, Megachile sculpturalis, and it is an introduced species native to Asia. According to BugGuide: “They are opportunistic and nest in existing wooden cavities, rather than excavating their own. Effectively pollinate kudzu, another invasive species.
Aggressive, it attacks other bees; it has been reported killing honey bees.”

Subject: Giant bees!!!
Location: Suburbs of Detroit
July 9, 2012 5:39 pm
I have had these 2 huge lavender plants out front for four years, but this year it is COVERED with an abnormal amount of bees. Most of them I recognize as locals, but there are tons of these gigantic bees that are black and the wings look black at the ends and almost take on a triangular shape when at rest. The two pics I am submitting look similar, but may be different?
What are they and do they sting like yellow jackets (over and over) or like bees (who lose the stinger in your skin)??? I grew up on a farm and have never seen such large bees! I’m excited and nervous about them 😉
Signature: Go Blue Girl

Giant Resin Bee

Dear Go Blue Girl,
This is a Giant Resin Bee, Megachile sculpturalis, an introduced species from Asia that has naturalized in North America. According to Bugguide: “They are opportunistic and nest in existing wooden cavities, rather than excavating their own. Effectively pollinate kudzu, another invasive species. Aggressive, it attacks other bees; it has been reported killing honey bees.” We do not have the answer to your stinging question, though we believe it might only be the worker Honey Bees that lose their stinger. Honey Bee workers are not individuals in the sense that a solitary bee is. It serves the hive to have a Honey Bee sting continue to deliver poison even though the bee dies. It would not be to any evolutionary advantage for a solitary bee to die after stinging.

Giant Resin Bee

Eric Eaton responds to stinger query.Daniel:
I think barbed stingers are peculiar to social bees and wasps, or at least honeybees and some yellowjackets. So, the Giant Resin Bee could conceivably sting more than once, but in my experience solitary bees and wasps take a lot of provocation before they deploy their stingers.
Eric